Income Distribution and High-quality Growth

Income Distribution and High-quality Growth
Author: Vito Tanzi
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 448
Release: 1998
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780262201094

The contributors argue that there need not be a trade-off between growth and equity in the long run. However, attempts by government to influence income distribution through large-scale tax and transfer programs can have a negative impact on growth. The contrast is vivid. While the majority of people in the industrial world and some in the developing world enjoy unprecedented affluence, a far greater number of people in the low-income countries live in abject poverty. Although several developing countries are achieving rapid economic growth and poverty reduction, most formerly centrally planned countries are struggling to implement market-oriented reforms in the midst of economic deterioration and rising poverty. The paramount importance of reducing poverty worldwide is forcing economists and policymakers to look at how income distribution and economic growth interact. The essays in this volume grew out of a 1995 conference sponsored by the International Monetary Fund. The contributors are scholars and policymakers from academic institutions, governments, and international organizations. The questions discussed include: How does income distribution interact with economic growth in the short run and the long run? To what extent can government use transfer programs to increase the incomes of the poor? How can government use social programs to help the poor increase their income-earning capacity? Does distributional inequality create an obstacle to long-term poverty reduction? Alternatively, is distributional inequality a necessary means of achieving economic growth? Generally, the contributors agree that there need not be a trade-off between growth and equity in the long run. However, attempts by government to influence income distribution through large-scale tax and transfer programs can have a negative impact on growth.

Links Between Growth, Inequality, and Poverty: A Survey

Links Between Growth, Inequality, and Poverty: A Survey
Author: Ms. Valerie Cerra
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 54
Release: 2021-03-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513572660

Is there a tradeoff between raising growth and reducing inequality and poverty? This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the complex links between growth, inequality, and poverty, with causation going in both directions. The evidence suggests that growth can be effective in reducing poverty, but its impact on inequality is ambiguous and depends on the underlying sources of growth. The impact of poverty and inequality on growth is likewise ambiguous, as several channels mediate the relationship. But most plausible mechanisms suggest that poverty and inequality reduce growth, at least in the long run. Policies play a role in shaping these relationships and those designed to improve equality of opportunity can simultaneously improve inclusiveness and growth.

Income Distribution in Macroeconomic Models

Income Distribution in Macroeconomic Models
Author: Giuseppe Bertola
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 439
Release: 2014-09-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691164592

This book looks at the distribution of income and wealth and the effects that this has on the macroeconomy, and vice versa. Is a more equal distribution of income beneficial or harmful for macroeconomic growth, and how does the distribution of wealth evolve in a market economy? Taking stock of results and methods developed in the context of the 1990s revival of growth theory, the authors focus on capital accumulation and long-run growth. They show how rigorous, optimization-based technical tools can be applied, beyond the representative-agent framework of analysis, to account for realistic market imperfections and for political-economic interactions. The treatment is thorough, yet accessible to students and nonspecialist economists, and it offers specialist readers a wide-ranging and innovative treatment of an increasingly important research field. The book follows a single analytical thread through a series of different growth models, allowing readers to appreciate their structure and crucial assumptions. This is particularly useful at a time when the literature on income distribution and growth has developed quickly and in several different directions, becoming difficult to overview.

Income Distribution in Less Developed Countries

Income Distribution in Less Developed Countries
Author: R. M. Sundrum
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 346
Release: 1992
Genre: Developing countries
ISBN: 0415079713

Bridges the gap between the statistical and the theoretical literature on income distribution in an attempt to make clearer what the underlying trends are and to make recommendations of the sort of policies which can provide growth with equity.

Economic Development, Poverty, And Income Distribution

Economic Development, Poverty, And Income Distribution
Author: William Loehr
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2019-04-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0429706618

The increasing inequality and poverty that seem inevitably to accompany economic growth in developing countries have become more and more evident in recent years. The search for development paths that lead to growth with equality—all too difficult to find—is now an area of central concern for development economists. One result of their concern is this volume, in which internationally known representatives of a range of disciplines address themselves to ways in which growth with equity might be successfully achieved. The book begins with both empirical and theoretical background to the development issues involved, and with an overview of the experience of the international development assistance community. focuses on operational definitions of the poor that will permit analytical, policy-oriented research to lead to useful conclusions. Specific concern is expressed for small-business owners, women, peasants, and recent migrants from rural to urban areas. The basic question, of course, is what can be done about poverty and inequality. includes suggestions for specific measures and provides a comprehensive comparison across a wide range of policy options. The book does not solve the problem, but it does point to directions that promise a reasonably high probability of success. And throughout, suggestions are made for the kind of interdisciplinary research required to raise that probability even further.

Growth With Inequality: An International Comparison On Income Distribution

Growth With Inequality: An International Comparison On Income Distribution
Author: Jinjun Xue
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2012-07-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9814401714

In the era of globalization and liberalization, the world is enjoying high growth as well as suffering from the ill-effects of unequal distribution of its economic outcomes. The activities of anti-government demonstrations in China and across the world via the Occupy Wall Street Movement highlight that inequality has become an international phenomenon. It is apparent in both poor countries under authoritarianism and rich countries governed by a democratic regime. Thus, inequality has become not only a hurdle to development but also a threat to social and political stability. The spread of the Jasmine Revolution across parts of North Africa and the Arab Spring are illustrative of what can happen under certain circumstances.This book confirms the inconsistencies between high growth and increasing inequality via a series of case studies across 11 countries, numerous regions, and OECD members. Many of the case studies draw upon original household surveys. Our findings indicate the seriousness of income inequality, explore factors that have caused the inequality and analyze their economic and social consequences.The book raises, and deals with, three key questions: (1) Can high growth reduce inequality gradually? (2) Can government intervention be effective in equalizing income distribution? (3) Is the income disparity an engine for, or an obstacle of, high growth?

Inequality and Growth

Inequality and Growth
Author: Francesco Grigoli
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 33
Release: 2016-12-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1475560524

The combination of stagnant growth and high levels of income inequality renewed the debate about whether a more even distribution of income can spur economic activity. This paper tests for cross-country convergence in income inequality and estimates its impact on economic growth with a heterogeneous panel structural vector autoregression model, which addresses some empirical challenges plaguing the literature. We find that income inequality is converging across countries, and that its impact on economic growth is heterogeneous. In particular, while the median response of real per capita GDP growth to shocks in income inequality is negative and significant, the dispersion around the estimates is large, with at least one fourth of the countries in the sample presenting a positive effect. The results suggest that the negative effect is mainly driven by the Middle East and Central Asia and the Western Hemisphere across regions, and emerging markets across income levels. Finally, we find evidence that improved institutional frameworks can reduce the negative effect of income inequality on growth.

Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries

Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2008-10-21
Genre:
ISBN: 9264044191

This report provides evidence of a fairly generalised increase in income inequality over the past two decades across OECD countries, but the timing, intensity and causes of the increase differ from what is typically suggested in the media.